Share In Joy

The "Sharing Gardens" are a creative collaboration of Llyn Peabody and Chris Burns. Llyn’s background is in education, communication, and organizing of all kinds: volunteers, personal- and work-spaces. Chris has 40+ years of organic gardening and 14 years of communal experience—sharing all things common.He is also a jack-of-all-trades and the father of three grown children. In the Spring of 2009, at the same time we were getting the Alpine "Sharing Gardens" started, we decided to seriously downsize. We were spending about $800/month on rent and utilities (not to mention all the other costs of running a household). Our house was way too big for our needs and we felt disheartened at seeing all that rent money being spent for nothing tangible that could grow in any meaningful way. We put up some posters around town advertising for a new place to live. The first people to respond had the perfect situation: An 8' x 40' travel trailer - hooked up to plumbing, sewer, and electricity, in a little grove of trees overlooking 400 acres of farmland. It was a place we could rent for a small fee and several hours a month of work-trade. Free from the stress of meeting such a big monthly financial obligation we could slow down our pace of living and devote our energies to the "Sharing Gardens" and other service projects. We live a simple life. We rise early and spend time with our spiritual studies; acknowledging all we have to be grateful for, getting quiet inside so we can listen for guidance, then we do some yoga on the floor. Most mornings we choose a simple project, preferring to get one or two things accomplished without haste or pressure, rather than facing a huge list of tasks that can never all get done in the time allotted. On any given day, we may not get much done but, like the Tortoise, we find that - "Slow and steady wins the race." Reflecting back we can see just how much we have accomplished unaccompanied by the sense of hurry and pressure that so many people experience, engaged in the usual busy, modern lifestyle. Afternoons usually include a nap, or at least a rest-time; a pause before taking on an afternoon project, going for a walk, computer-time or other household maintenance tasks. We have no TV but do enjoy watching DVD's on our lap-top as a way to unwind in the evenings. We are ovo-lacto vegetarians, eating plant-foods, eggs and dairy products, all 'organic' - whenever possible. This is not a religion for us but we notice we feel better eating this way and know it helps us live lighter on the planet (and easier on the pocket-book!) Through the "Sharing Gardens" we are able to grow a high percentage of our food. Mid-August through Thanksgiving are the busiest times for us as we convert the harvest into stored goods that will see us through to next year's garden-season. In Autumn we also fill our pantry with gleaned fruits and nuts and wild mushrooms foraged in the woods near our home. We keep our two food-dehydrators going almost non-stop during this time and 'can' a variety of foods and juices. Living in such a small space can be a challenge at times, especially in the wet, cold, winter months when we spend more time inside. In the Fall of 2011, we removed our dining room table and chairs and began eating "Japanese-style", sitting on the floor to make room for morning Yoga. We have a plastic table-cloth we pull out to sort seeds, do craft projects or other things we used to do on the table. The side-benefit of this arrangement is that all the "ups" and "downs", several times a day, for meals etc has also increased our fitness and flexibility. The "down-side" is that it has limited who we can have over for extended visits, as not everyone is up for these forced calisthenics! There are other blessings to this lifestyle. It has prevented us from accumulating excess possessions (as a friend put it, who also lives in a travel trailer, "You empty your pockets and its time to clean house!"). It has encouraged us to be more organized as well. For example, we have many of our shoes hanging from a peg-board, we hang plastic bags we've washed for re-use from cup hooks using clothes-pins and our bed is built up on a loft which provides a "root cellar" and cool storage space below! Such a small space encourages us to get outside often for walks and find projects that can be done in the shop-space we have in the barn on the premises. We are committed to the 2012 gardening season where we currently live (between Alpine and Monroe, Oregon) but are available to groups in other places who need mentorship in starting their own "Sharing Gardens". We would like to attract others who share our values and vision to join us in community here or, once the gardening season is over, we could imagine moving to another location if it met certain criteria. In order to take the project to the next level, we would like to find a place suitable for starting a school. It would need to have at least 3-4 bedrooms so we could host interns to learn about the "Sharing Gardens" - to transplant this model to other towns and cities. Ideally our expenses wouldn't rise too steeply. A fixer-upper farmhouse, or care-taking situation where we could do work-trade for part of our rent could be a real win-win. We'd like a place we could really grow into--developing a garden site on the property, managing a greenhouse; having a shop-space for projects and a big enough living room to host song-circles, other community-building gatherings and classes in rural-arts skills. These times we're living in are calling for people to develop the many basic skills our grandparents took for granted: growing and storing food, repairing things instead of just getting new ones, making and mending clothes and taking care of each other in a spirit of family, "neighborhood" and community. We would like to create a welcoming home/school where people could teach and learn these kinds of skills and develop friendships based on the meaningful exchange of information and service. Do you happen to know of such a place? We'd like to hear from you. Llyn Peabody and Chris Burns "Sharing Gardens" Coordinators PO Box 11 Monroe, OR 97456 (541) 847-8797 ShareInJoy@gmail.com www.thesharinggardens.blogspot.com/ To read about our vision for community (based on sharing all things in common - "radical sharing") go to: https://fcfco.blogspot.com/